The concentration of the media by “autocratic” governments is one of the “the greatest obstacles for the freedom of the press in the western hemisphere during the last six months of the year” and the killing of 14 journalists represents one of the highest numbers in the last 20 years, the Inter American Press Association noted during the conclusion of its 69th General Assembly in Denver last weekend.
Carlos Martínez is a reporter with Salvadoran news site El Faro who specializes in covering violence in Central America. He's part of the publication's Sala Negra team, which was created in 2011 with the goal of creating a model for permanent coverage of prisons, gangs, organized crime and violence in the region.
Viltor García, a bodyguard for cable channel director Karen Rottman, had just finished his shift on Oct. 19 when he was shot and killed by attackers in a vehicle with tinted glass windows in Guatemala City, informed Reporters without Borders (RSF). Rottman is the director of Vea Canal, an independent cable channel critical of the nation's administration.
The Cuban government appointed new editors for its two main newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, describing the move as part of a “renewal” process to improve the country’s official press, BBC News reported.
There have been 150 preliminary investigations into attacks against journalists in the first nine months of this year initiated by the Special Prosecutor on Attention to Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in Mexico, informed deputy director Alberto Peralta Flores, according to the website of the Mexican magazine Proceso.
By Alsha Khan In the last twelve months in Venezuela, there has been a decline of Internet freedom, showing a substantial increase in the censorship of opinions about political events, like the death of Hugo Chávez and the presidential elections in April, according to the report Freedom on the Net published by Freedom House in […]
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has published a new bilingual book compiling several reports from independent Cuban journalists on different social aspects of life in the island. "With Open Voices" gathers articles in Spanish and English on Cuba's isolated society, which continues to suffer from constant attacks against human rights.
Luis Chancay, president of the National Educators’ Union of Guayas, Ecuador, filed a complaint before the People’s Defender on Sept. 23 because of a memorandum from the Ministry of Education. This memorandum prohibits rectors, directors and professors of educational institutions in the Province of Guayas from giving statements to the press without the authorization of the sub secretary of said ministry, according to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universal.
As of Oct. 1, El Impulso, one of the oldest newspapers in Venezuela, will publish a shorter version of its edition due to a lack of printing supplies. In an editorial published by El Impulso on Sep. 29, the newspaper's editorial board states that it has been waiting 11 months for government authorization that allows it to import the necessary materials.
The Washington correspondent of Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, Cláudia Trevisan, was arrested on Thursday, Sep. 26 after trying to interview the president of Brazil's Federal Supreme Tribunal (STF) Joaquim Barbosa, who was attending a conference at Yale University.
As part of its campaign Impunity Kills, the Mexico chapter of press freedom organization Article 19 started a launch campaign for both a new documentary and a petition gathering signatures to ask the nation's authorities to fulfill their duties to protect journalists and investigate crimes against them.
The Cuban government rejected "guaranteeing freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, as well as the free activity of human rights defenders, independent journalists and those in opposition to the government," from among 292 formulated recommendations by the UN Human Rights Council, according to a Notimex report published in the Diario of Cuba.